thehog wrote:The Shack sponsorship will always be one of the great mysteries of modern cycling. Obviously is was born to be team-Lance and then every rider who wanted to be associated with the great man would want to ride. But the Contador saga put end to that theory. No younger or entry level pro riders want to ride for them. I’m still surprised Radioshack the company signed on for two more years.

Now if they do merge with Leopard then that is a awesome move. Kloden and Horner become worker bees for Andy then that’s a farily formidable squad.

A Tour team with Jens, Canc, Horner, Kloden, Jani , Frank all working for Andy along with some UCI “assistance” would make a Tour winning squad.

Kloden/Horner will never win the Tour off their own bats. Never.

If I was Andy I would sign on the dotted line. This is his chance. If it does happen expect his time trialing to improve by at least 2 minutes from Bruyneel special wind tunnel testing.

"Bruyneel special wind tunnel testing"......is that what they are calling it these days?

Those are the days when certain posters feel the need to leave the clinic, to go on trashing and hating in the racing-forum and bring in their usual clinic-sh**. This is not the clinic, btw.

Lance won't find a sponsor.... RS will be gone before the season 2010 ends....RS won't ride le Tour....There will be no Team RS in 2011....Team RS won't ride the Tour.....Team RS won't find a new sponsor.... RS will be gone before season 2011 ends.....No one wants to ride for Team RS....

I wonder why some people still have the nerves to still open their mouths. Oh, it must be the internet where people give a sh** about their reputation.

‘I liked him. He was as tough as nails. Mentally...the toughest person I have ever come across’

on3m@n@rmy wrote:I would disagree with that. I hate to say this, but look at Lance who won, what, 5 or 6 straight Sports Illustrated 'sportsman of the year' awards. That put him ahead of all other athletes in the US covering all sports. OK, he did not have to go head-to-head in a vote against Michael Jordan. But those awards say something about how the ppl in the US viewed him. He certainly was no saint in some ways. I do agree, however, that a foreigner would not be likely to be the next big thing in the US, because there are just too many other great athletes to consider. But I do think it would be awesome if a foreigner could get to that point in the US.

"Awesome" is definitely not the word that I would use to describe that prospect. Nauseating and unfortunate would be more of how I'd describe it if it involves AS.

rickshaw wrote:"Is happening... might happen... has happened... will happen..." all your difficulties can be resolved with quantum cycling theory. At the sub atomic level riders can be in TWO places at once, or in fact NO places at once; stupidity and genius must co-exist because time cease to be relative, or exist at all. Teams, riders and sponsors will all pop in an out of existance, seemingly at random... and the act of forumits observing them will influence that which they observe, and uncertsinty will be the only constant.

In stark contrast, threads such as this at the "big picture level", appear to be collapsing on themselves, becoming infinitely dense so that no content is able to escape, and time itself ceases to exist

or that's the way it feels.

Post of the year. Maybe of all time.

Race Radio wrote:Funny how Johan does not deny the possibility while Leopard is very clear it is not happening.

This is increasingly looking like an attempt by Johan to pretend he is still relevant in the sport.

Not sure what to make of it. It could be that, like it or not and rather than merging, Bruyneel/Armstrong are simply throwing their weight (along with Pat's) behind the Schlecks. Don't forget, after all, that the Schlecks are the designated darlings of the cycling establishment. They are supposed to be WINNING. And perhaps they will yet be winning, no matter what it takes.

rickshaw wrote:"Is happening... might happen... has happened... will happen..." all your difficulties can be resolved with quantum cycling theory. At the sub atomic level riders can be in TWO places at once, or in fact NO places at once; stupidity and genius must co-exist because time cease to be relative, or exist at all. Teams, riders and sponsors will all pop in an out of existance, seemingly at random... and the act of forumits observing them will influence that which they observe, and uncertsinty will be the only constant.

In stark contrast, threads such as this at the "big picture level", appear to be collapsing on themselves, becoming infinitely dense so that no content is able to escape, and time itself ceases to exist

or that's the way it feels.

...yup...that just about sums it all up...so now that we know the answer to life, the universe and everything why don't we all just quit this forum stuff and get on with life...starting with everyone going down to their favourite watering hole and having a beer or two...its all tranquillo now, the forum is dead, long live the forum!....

I saw this coming long time ago when first Trek was announced as a financial backer for the Leopard team, along with the troubles on the Shack camp with the LA issues & the not-renewal of the sponsorship coming up for 2012 onwards -gotta remember who's the owner of RS's licence & influential power on Trek still- and I ain't talking about the Hog.........always look for the big picture my friends... there is someone out there cashing in behind the curtains....

hfer07 wrote:I saw this coming long time ago when first Trek was announced as a financial backer for the Leopard team, along with the troubles on the Shack camp with the LA issues & the not-renewal of the sponsorship coming up for 2012 onwards -gotta remember who's the owner of RS's licence & influential power on Trek still- and I ain't talking about the Hog.........always look for the big picture my friends... there is someone out there cashing in behind the curtains....

Agree with you on all counts, except I'm pretty sure RS has already extended through 2012, haven't they?

hfer07 wrote:I saw this coming long time ago when first Trek was announced as a financial backer for the Leopard team, along with the troubles on the Shack camp with the LA issues & the not-renewal of the sponsorship coming up for 2012 onwards -gotta remember who's the owner of RS's licence & influential power on Trek still- and I ain't talking about the Hog.........always look for the big picture my friends... there is someone out there cashing in behind the curtains....

Yeah, agree. Godlike performance.

‘I liked him. He was as tough as nails. Mentally...the toughest person I have ever come across’

@ Maxiton-yes -but what we have here is a "Merger" between the two teams-which means RS can easily either become a small sponsor or pull out at all- and since we know how Pat & UCI bend over to what LA says-it won't be an issue at all -sadly

Ferminal wrote:It would suggest that the Schlecks could have just stayed at Saxo, leave for a year of autonomy only to go back to a team boss just as powerful as Riis?

Yep. Also true. But with Armstrong/Bruyneel, Pat/UCI, ASO, and even Merckx now behind them, you could argue that they're only just now finding out about power (despite RR's claims of irrelevancy for Bruyneel). If, that is, any of this is even real (see signature).

Ferminal wrote:It would suggest that the Schlecks could have just stayed at Saxo, leave for a year of autonomy only to go back to a team boss just as powerful as Riis?

That's a very interesting observation. Was there any indication the relationship with Riis had soured? Or perhaps they found it much more difficult to lineup the tens of millions in sponsors required for a modern protour team? Perhaps they thought they could make more money by "skipping the middle man" as it were?

Becca did not say much when the team was getting started but he did indicate that he saw this as an investment. He was not just a fan who had $20 million to toss at the sport. He figured that he would give the team some start up cash, sign top riders, and make his money back when they find a big sponsor.....but that sponsor never came.

Belgacom did what they always did, pretend they were going to do a deal and back out at the last minute. Trek found out they would be in the title less then a week before the launch. I doubt part of Becca's plan was to float the team for this long without a sponsor.

There have been rumors of a merger for a long time. Since prior to the Tour. The challenges against one seem overwhelming. Given the initial push came from Trek it is not a stretch to think this is just more posturing by Johan. Not much different from the new cycling league he was supposed to set up.

Race Radio wrote:Becca did not say much when the team was getting started but he did indicate that he saw this as an investment. He was not just a fan who had $20 million to toss at the sport. He figured that he would give the team some start up cash, sign top riders, and make his money back when they find a big sponsor.....but that sponsor never came.

Belgacom did what they always did, pretend they were going to do a deal and back out at the last minute. Trek found out they would be in the title less then a week before the launch. I doubt part of Becca's plan was to float the team for this long without a sponsor.

There have been rumors of a merger for a long time. Since prior to the Tour. The challenges against one seem overwhelming. Given the initial push came from Trek it is not a stretch to think this is just more posturing by Johan. Not much different from the new cycling league he was supposed to set up.

What exactly are the challenges against some sort of merger?

Vis a vis Trek and Johan, I'm not following. If Trek wants this to be successful, doesn't it make sense they'd want to bring in the DS with whom they've had the most success? Especially if that's what Armstrong wants them to do? (As an aside, is Armstrong an investor in Trek?)